Tenth Kilometer – The Pack

As far as the eye could see, the path lay like a snake. On both sides, barren fields waited a rain. Dust devils hid Father Merrin’s sight frequently. Head, the full moon turned phlegmatic, hanging like spit from a werewolf. All stars had disappeared. A sudden pall descended the earth. Merrin could smell something coming – dust. But not just dust, death. He frantically looked afar and wide. Nothing.

Slowly, in his Ganja-laden eyes, a wild dog appeared, crossing the road from right to left. Father Merrin stopped and stooped to gather some pebbles when he realized it: it is not one, it’s thousands. He remembered, as the pack closed in, a blue flame suddenly burst forth from the ground and spread like wild fire among the pack. There were groanings, yelps, screams, human noises. Those that touched the blue flame were instantly reduced to ashes. But they kept on coming, jumping at the throat of Merrin. He wasn’t scared anymore. He was more careful about the documents. He kept holding onto it and chanted:

The person with the evil spirit then sprang at them and subdued them all.  He so overpowered them that they fled naked and wounded from that house.  17 When this became known to all the Jews and Greeks who lived in Ephesus, fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in great esteem.  18 Many of those who had become believers came forward and openly acknowledged their former practices. 

The fumes choked him. When he came around, smoke had filled out the entire sky.

For miles around, ash lay. He sighed and heaved himself upright. It was the six iles to go. His Watch had stopped sometime back. It showed fifteen past one.